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Capture of U.N. peacekeepers shows vulnerability in Golan Heights

By Karin LaubThe Associated Press

Posted:
03/08/2013 12:01:00 AM MST

Updated:
03/08/2013 01:00:48 AM MST

Israelis in the Golan Heights use binoculars to watch fighting across the border in the Syrian village of Jamlah on Thursday. The United Nations is negotiating for the release of 21 U.N. peacekeepers taken hostage by Syrian opposition forces. (Baz Ratner, Reuters)

BEIRUT — Video Thursday of U.N. peacekeepers held captive by Syrian rebels illustrates the vulnerability of a U.N. force that had patrolled a cease-fire line between Israel and Syria without incident for nearly four decades.

The abduction of the Filipino troops — soft targets in Syria's civil war — also sent a worrisome signal to Israel about the lawlessness it fears along the shared frontier if Syrian President Bashar Assad is ousted.

Opposition fighters seized 21 peacekeepers Wednesday near the Syrian village of Jamlah, a mile from the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, a plateau Israel captured from Syria in 1967.

Negotiations were underway Thursday for the release of the men, who said in videos posted online that they were being treated well.

"To our family, we hope to see you soon and we are OK here," said a peacekeeper shown in one video. He was one of three peacekeepers dressed in camouflage and blue bullet-proof vests emblazoned with the words U.N. and Philippines.

However, a rebel spokesman seemed to suggest the hostages were serving as human shields. If the U.N. troops are released and leave the area, the regime could kill "as many as 1,000 people," said the spokesman, who spoke via Skype and did not give his name for fear of reprisals.

The peacekeepers' abduction highlights the risks to U.N. staff in Syria's escalating conflict.

Fighting has spread across the country, resulting in more than 70,000 deaths and displacing nearly 4 million of Syria's 22 million people. There is no sign of a breakthrough for either side.

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U.N. diplomats and officials said Thursday that the capture of the peacekeepers will likely lead to a re-examination of security for the U.N. monitors and their patrols in the field.

The U.N. mission, known as UNDOF, was set up in 1974, seven years after Israel first captured the Golan and a year after it managed to push back Syrian troops trying to recapture the territory in another regional war.

For nearly four decades, the U.N. monitors helped enforce a stable truce between Israel and Syria, making it one of the most successful U.N. missions in the world, said Timor Goksel, a Beirut-based former senior U.N. official in the region.

The force has an office in Damascus and staffs observation posts along the armistice line. The peacekeepers shuttle between Damascus and the outposts to deliver supplies and rotate crews.

Goksel, who works for the Al-Monitor news website, said the observers are "soft targets." Up to now they were "never challenged by anybody in Syria," he said.

The monitors' success might have been linked to a decision by Assad and his father and predecessor Hafez Assad to comply with the armistice deal, including limits on military hardware allowed near the cease-fire line. Moshe Maoz, an Israeli expert on Syria, said the U.N. mission's success was largely due to the Assads' decision to abide by the truce.

"When you are dealing with an army that follows orders, it is one thing," Maoz said. "Now you have different groups. They do not recognize international law and have no respect for any law or international morals. They are terrorist groups that know no bounds."

An Israeli official said that if UNDOF were to halt operations, it would be a "bad thing for peace." He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the diplomatically sensitive issue with the media.

A member of Syria's political opposition in exile, Khaled Saleh, said the rebels would deliver the U.N. troops to safety in Jordan as soon as the regime halts airstrikes in the area and a transfer is deemed safe.

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